Politics
Wednesday July 24, 2002
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EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE BLOCKS HUMAN CLONING ATTEMPT
Korean Raelians claim cloning project underway
MUNICH, July 24, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The European Patent Office, headquarted in the Bavarian capital, said yesterday it had amended an animal cell-manipulation patent granted to the University of Edinburgh in 1999 to prevent its being used for human cloning.
Scotland's premier University and an Australian biotech firm, Stem Cell Sciences, were awarded the patent to genetically alter the cells of "mammals," which could then be used to create embryos.
The patent office admitted a few months later that its language had been unclear, and that officials "had not noticed a reference to human cells in the 235-page document." However, the body requires opposition motions, in this case from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, in order to move amendments.
Meanwhile, the South Korean Government has started an investigation into a company which claims to have a woman two-months pregnant with a cloned human embryo by a company called BioFusion Tech. The company is an affiliate of the U.S.-based company Clonaid, founded by a religious cult, the Raelian Movement. Raelian members believe life on Earth was created scientifically by extra-terrestrials and supports human cloning as a path to eternal life. In the aftermath of September 11, they declared that cloning would in future make terrorism redundant, as every victim could be cloned and so be re-created.
To read Globe and Mail coverage see:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/...
To read BBC coverage of the South Korean investigation see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2148864.stm
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